Welcome

Never before in the history of this nation have so many been so apathetic about the freedoms and liberties bestowed upon them today by the blood and sacrifice of those before them.

Far too many today think of "tyranny" as being something only wielded by Kings and Queens of old or dictators in far away lands.

Yet tyranny comes in many forms, not the least of which is a central government that places its wants, its needs above the rights and liberties of the common citizen.

The meme of the legacy print media, the broadcast networks and the professional political class is that the Tea Party and anyone who dare associate with such is so "far right", "extreme", and "radical" they must be ridiculed, viled, and slandered at every opportunity else a modern American apocalypse is imminent.

And at this moment in history with pop culture being what it is, an educational system promoting ignorance over achievement, and economic conditions at their worst since the Great Depression, the number of minds susceptible to such propaganda has never been larger.

But who represents the true "radical", "extreme" "un-American" position?

The group that is fighting to revitalize the Constitution, raise awareness of the founding principles that birthed that Constitution, and protect the rights and liberties bestowed therein or a minority ruling establishment that desires only the continuance of its power and influence at all cost?

If you're of the former, WELCOME. You'll find yourself right at home here.

If you're of the latter, welcome as well. Yes, you're going to feel a little uncomfortable at first, but give it some time.

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Three Lessons From Brussels

The day after Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the ISIS terrorist group was indeed committing genocide against Christians and religious minorities, Belgian police arrested Salah Abdeslam, the mastermind of the November Paris attacks that killed 130 innocents.

For whatever reason, authorities felt compelled to tell the press that Abdeslam was talking and four days later Brussels became the latest city to endure an ISIS bombing. As of this writing, 31 more victims have been added to its scroll of death and history will most likely record more.

The working theory is that the bombings were pushed up to avoid risking the plot being exposed by the captured comrade’s loose tongue.

LESSON 1: If you capture a terrorist mastermind, it’s probably not a good idea to broadcast to the world and his fellow conspirators he’s leading you right to them.

Once the anger at the terrorists and the sorrow for the victims subsides the mind turns to “how did this happen”? To which there is only one answer: It happened because it was allowed to happen.

For over a quarter century, socialist European governments unburdened from paying for their own defense thanks to the American taxpayer threw open their borders to one and all. Their generous welfare benefits being the siren call that created the disaster now unfolding across the continent. The minute the European Union put multiculturalism above its member’s national identities its fate was sealed.

Immigration only works when the group immigrating is willing to voluntarily assimilate into the native society. Disparate enclaves operating outside the norms, customs and rule of law of the host country has no end but failure.

We see it here at home as well with groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Formed in 1994, just a year after the first World Trade Center bombing, the activist group has spent the last two decades filing one case after another seeking court orders aimed at forcing its view of what American society should be rather than assimilating into the society we actually are.

When CAIR goes to court for Sharia law over American law or for the right to fully cover oneself without regard to public security it is working against the very essence of what made our “melting pot” succeed. Immigration can be “E Pluribus Unum” or it can be CAIR’s “bend to us”, but it cannot be both.

LESSON 2: 7th century caliphates are incompatible with 21st century freedoms.

In 1938, Neville Chamberlain’s naivety emboldened Adolf Hitler to start WWII. In 2016, the naivety of President Obama underestimating the threat that ISIS portends has the world again on a dangerous path.

The day after the Brussels attack, an MSNBC Morning Joe panel was discussing President Obama’s insistence on laughing it up at the ball park that afternoon in Cuba when former CIA director Michael Hayden nailed it: “I’m going to say something that’s going to sound pretty harsh but I think it’s true, that wasn’t a mistake, that wasn’t weakness, that was policy…his going to the ballpark and his spending less than a minute commenting on the attack. I actually believe in his heart of hearts, the President’s policy is that is not that big a deal. There are other things that are more important, and that was what he was messaging.”

LESSON 3: Evil ignored is evil emboldened. You either defeat it, or it defeats you. The only variable is how long the wait before the inevitable battle.

While I have no doubt we will eventually defeat ISIS, I just hope that waiting until after January 20, 2017 won’t prove to be a wait too long.

PUBLISHER NOTE: A version of this column first appeared in the March 27 print edition of the Joplin Globe.